The SQE four years on: the facts

The Solicitors Qualifying Examination has now been running long enough to have its own track record. The SRA has published a "four years on" review of the assessment, pulling together candidate numbers and pass-rate trends since the first sitting in 2021. This is what that data actually shows, without the opinion layered on top.

Why the SRA published a four-year review

Any new professional exam gets watched closely in its early years. Providers, universities and prospective solicitors all want to know whether the format is stable, whether pass rates are settling into a pattern, and whether the assessment is doing what it was designed to do.

The SRA's "SQE four years on: facts and figures" publication is its own answer to that question, using data from the sittings held since the SQE replaced the Legal Practice Course as the standard route to qualification. It's a useful document precisely because it comes from the body that runs the exam, not from a provider with a course to sell.

The headline pattern: two exams, two different shapes

The SQE splits into two very different assessments, and four years of data confirms they behave differently as well.

SQE1 is a 360-question multiple-choice test of legal knowledge, sat over two days. Across the sittings reported so far, first-time SQE1 pass rates have ranged roughly between 46% and 60%, depending on the sitting. That's a wide band. The January sitting has tended to run higher than the July one, which is one of the more consistent patterns in the data, though the reasons behind it (cohort mix, timing relative to university terms, resit proportions) are harder to pin down than the number itself.

SQE2 is a different kind of test: 16 practical skills stations covering things like advocacy, interviewing and legal writing, run across roughly five half-days. First-time SQE2 pass rates have sat in a noticeably higher and tighter range, broadly 69% to 84% across reported sittings.

That gap between the two exams is one of the clearest single facts in four years of SQE data. It isn't proof that SQE2 is "easier." Only candidates who have already passed SQE1 sit SQE2, so the SQE2 cohort has already been filtered once. A higher pass rate on a pre-selected group is a different thing to a higher pass rate on an open one. For a fuller breakdown of what these percentages do and don't tell you, see pass rates decoded.

What "first time" actually changes

Almost every figure the SRA publishes comes in two versions: the overall pass rate for everyone who sat that paper, and the first-time pass rate for candidates sitting it for the first time. The two numbers are not close.

Overall rates are pulled down by resit attempts, which consistently perform worse than first attempts across both SQE1 and SQE2. That's not a comment on resitters as people. It reflects a genuinely harder position: sitting an exam again after a previous attempt didn't go to plan, often while working, and often without a full second run at the recommended prep hours.

The practical takeaway from four years of this pattern is that first-attempt preparation carries real weight. A resit that repeats the same study approach as the first attempt tends to produce a similar result. If a first sitting doesn't go well, the more useful question is what specifically to change, not just how much more time to put in. The resit rules cover the practical side of that: three attempts per part, inside a six-year window from your first sitting.

Candidate numbers, and what they suggest

Part of the four-year story is simply volume. Since 2021, tens of thousands of candidates have sat SQE1, SQE2, or both, across sittings held twice a year for SQE1 and up to four times a year for SQE2. The exam has moved from a brand-new, unfamiliar format to one with several years of published cohort data behind it.

That matters for anyone preparing now. Early SQE candidates had comparatively little to go on: no settled sense of typical pass rates, limited public commentary on format quirks, and prep providers who were themselves still building out material against a live specification. Four years in, none of that uncertainty applies in the same way. The format is fixed, the pass-rate ranges are documented sitting by sitting, and the practical mechanics (booking windows, results timelines, resit rules) are well understood.

Reading the trend, not just the last sitting

It's tempting to treat the most recent SQE1 or SQE2 result as a verdict on the exam's direction. Four years of sittings is a better basis for judgement than any single one.

Looking across the reported range rather than one data point, a few things hold reasonably steady:

• SQE1 first-time pass rates cluster in the 46% to 60% band, with January sittings generally running ahead of July ones.
• SQE2 first-time pass rates sit consistently higher, in the 69% to 84% band, reflecting its already-filtered cohort.
• Resit pass rates trail first-attempt rates on both parts, in every reported sitting.
• The gap between overall and first-time figures is present at every sitting, not a one-off.

None of that amounts to the exam getting dramatically harder or easier over time. It reads more like a format that has settled into a fairly stable, if wide, range, with sitting-to-sitting movement driven mostly by cohort composition rather than the difficulty of the paper itself changing sitting to sitting.

What this means if you're preparing now

The single most useful thing four years of data does for a current candidate is remove the guesswork around what a "normal" result looks like. A first-time SQE1 pass rate in the low fifties is not a bad sitting. It's within the range the SRA's own figures show as typical. A first-time SQE2 pass rate in the high seventies or low eighties is also entirely typical, not a lucky cohort.

That context is useful, but it's still a description of a whole population, not a prediction about one candidate. The number that will actually determine your result is how thoroughly you've covered the syllabus and how much realistic, timed practice you've done, not the sitting-average from a report. Tracking your own progress against the syllabus, rather than benchmarking against a headline percentage, tends to be a better use of the data. A free study planner can help keep that timeline realistic against your own booking date.

Frequently asked questions

How long has the SQE been running? The SQE replaced the Legal Practice Course as the standard route to qualifying as a solicitor in England and Wales from September 2021. The SRA's four-years-on review covers the sittings held since then.

What is the SQE1 first-time pass rate? Across sittings reported since 2021, first-time SQE1 pass rates have ranged roughly from 46% to 60%, with January sittings generally running higher than July ones.

What is the SQE2 first-time pass rate? First-time SQE2 pass rates have sat in a higher and tighter range, broadly 69% to 84% across reported sittings, reflecting that only candidates who already passed SQE1 sit SQE2.

Is the SQE getting harder or easier over time? Four years of published sittings don't show a clear trend in either direction. Pass rates move sitting to sitting, largely reflecting cohort composition (the mix of first-timers and resitters) rather than the underlying paper changing in difficulty.

Where can I see the exact figures for a specific sitting? The SRA publishes a statistical report after each sitting on its website. For a walkthrough of how to read those reports properly, including the difference between overall and first-time rates, see pass rates decoded. For upcoming sitting dates, see the 2026-27 SQE dates, and for the current fee structure, see what the SQE costs.